Overall rating and opinion of " Wilderness Cry" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.

[gali]

This is a discussion topic for the December 2020 Book of the month, " Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.

What is your overall opinion of the book? What do you like most about it? What do you like least? Will you recommend the book to other people? Why or why not?

Please remember to add your actual rating using the book's page on: Bookshelves.

[Catie139]

I would give Wilderness Cry a rating of 1 out of 4 stars. There were many grammar, punctuation, and capitalization errors that had me frustrated reading the book. The reason for only a one-star rating, though, was also because of the way that the book was written. Hunt provided a lot of ideas; however, it was clear to me that it was his opinion. While he made reference to various general authors, there was no substantiation made.

There was a list of references at the end of the book; however, it was never clear what exactly Hunt was paraphrasing throughout the book. In addition, it was obvious that there was no significant research done. Hunt made his point and found something to back up that point. Having only one or two sources, however, does not a scholar make. One can find something to back up any opinion. (Proof of this is how there is such a division even among Christians because each group can find something in the Bible to make his/her point. It's all in the perception of the reader.)

The fact that Hunt was a "practicing Catholic" pre-Vatican II did much to shape his opinions. He made some reference to more recent developments in the Catholic Church, but the fact that he never actually quoted or mentioned the exact reference took away his credibility as far as I'm concerned. An example was when he mentioned that Pope Francis had said something. What exactly the pope had said, and what the source of this information was, was never made clear.

For all of these reasons, I would definitely not recommend this book to others.

[Ahbed Nadir]

I normally don't enjoy giving books low ratings but i just have to say from my personal point of view that Wilderness Cry was NOT a good book. I rate it 1 out of 4 stars. There were so many grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors that could simply not be overlooked and which caused me a lot of frustration with the book. Another problem I had with it was the vagueness and the flimsiness of the text. Hunt did not provide any concrete references or referrals from which he took his information. As such I could not in good conscience take any of his writings as fact and i had to dismiss them as hearsay. I would honestly not recommend this book to others.

[Juliet+1]

I would love to give "Wilderness Cry" 4 stars, but it had at least one typo on almost every page. It will have to settle for 3 stars. I thought the author made a solid, logical case for his ideas about the nature of god and the harmfulness of organized religion. The book is definitely an opinion piece, not an academic study, but it is interesting and well written (even with all the typos). I particularly enjoyed the way Mr. Hunt tied recent discoveries about dark matter to his theories about god. In fact, the way he brought in bits of science raised "Wilderness Cry" above the level of most books about religion that I have read.

[readsbyarun]

I haven't reviewed this book. But I gave rating as an individual standpoint. The content of book is good enough to get the highest rating whereas the book should have been better if it had went through more rounds of review and corrections.

[InStoree]

I liked most the approach to this controversial subject, namely the combination of philosophical elements with those of science; and although the author did not delve much into scholarly data to solidify his theory (except for a few books for reference), he implemented sound arguments based on the historical facts of the Church as well as the current modernism of Christianity. As an Orthodox Christian and a free thinker, I resonated with the author's concept that God is a perfect being who defines Love and that the Church focused more on mass-domination than promoting God's essence of loving your neighbor as yourself, as He loves us.

I recommend this philosophical "notebook" with a pale of scientific references to all readers who love to engage in discussions that call into question the good faith of religious leaders and organizations. For me, it is a 3 out of 4-star book, due to editorial errors.

[Saint Bruno]

The thought-provoking discussions and insights into the existence of God, I think this provides relevant themes. I wouldn't give it a perfect rating due to the book's editing mishaps; however, it doesn't deserve lower than a three out of four star rating.

[Fabulous mind]

A book that explores various topics such as the Bible, evil, the Trinity, Eternity, personality development, guilt, free will, marriage and sex. What I liked most about this book is that the author was unbiased in his discussion. Though I don't usually like when people take a philosophical approach towards God, this book is a great read.

[Caroline Anne Richmond]

Wilderness Cry, explores some interesting opinions and discussions about the existence of good. Some science based theories are also explored, but the book is heavily opinion based, with not much academic or science research to back them up. It is interesting to read about some of the authors feelings about the harmfulness of organised religions, but unfortunately the numerous spelling and grammatical errors hindered the enjoyment of the book. I would rate the book 2 out of 4 stars.

[Chiawa]

This is a tough one. Yes, the book needs an extra round of proofreading. The themes discussed are quite controversial but the author tried to be as objective as he could. That, is commendable. However, for a topic of this depth, I think more work should be done to validate some of his suppositions. On this note, my rate is 3 out 4 stars.

[JulietBlack]

The premises of this book is quite insightful and very controversial. Topics on Trinity, eternity and science needs more facts and research which is a bit lacking in the book. There are some errors that another round of proofreading can handle. On this, I give this book a 2 out of 4 rate.

[Chigo Nwagboso]

I think the author did a good job by combining science and philosophy in this book. I also appreciate that the author wasn't forceful and imposing with his teaching, and the fact that it will be beneficial for all beliefs is just the bomb. I'll rate this book a perfect score.

[RavingReads]

I gave this a 3 out of 4 stars. There were several typos on every page. However, this book also dealed with a lot of big ideas that really made you think.

[broberts2735]

I would rate it as 1 out of 4 stars.

The grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues made the book almost unreadable.

I found his arguments to be as inconsistent and contradictory as he accuses others of being. He also has a very narrow definition of Christianity and Christian belief, so I think he'd be surprised about the different opinions on some of the topics he talked about.

[FrostBytez]

All in all, this book is quite interesting, with a good plot and storytelling. But the grammar and spelling mistakes ruin the experience. 2 out of 4